The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.

Page created by Wallace Alvarez
 
CONTINUE READING
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
OTIVM.
                         Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico
                            ISSN 2532-0335 – DOI 10.5281/zenodo.5702502

 www.otium.unipg.it
                                    No. 10, Anno 2021 – Article 2

     The roman-republican castella on the south-
eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of
      the romanization of the Iberian population.
                              Feliciana Sala-Sellés 
                            University of Alicante, Spain

Abstract: Some archaeological sites located on coastal promontories of the
north coast of Alicante (Spain) were traditionally interpreted as small
Iberian enclaves from the 2nd and 1st century BC dedicated to trade with
Rome. This interpretation stemmed from their location next to good inlets
and the outstanding number of Roman amphorae and fine ware among the
findings. However, the research project being developed since 2010
reinterprets these sites as a network of forts built during the first roman civil
wars, around 77 BC, to control the passage of senatorial ships between
Ebusus and Carthago Nova. In this new context, Roman ceramics are no
longer the object of exchange between Iberians and Italic merchants, but the
kitchen and tableware used by legionaries, as well as the storage containers
for their own food. The Iberian amphorae and other painted Iberian vessels
present in the forts are the containers of the products that the Iberian
population, allied with Sertorius, provided for the provisioning of the
soldiers, but it may also be pointing out a hypothetical presence of Iberian
auxilia in the coastal garrisons. In any case, it is through this contact, in the
midst of a war in the 70's BC, when the Iberian population of the regio
Contestania first encounters the Roman economic system and starts the
slow transmission of new cultural values.
Keywords: Roman-republican fortification, Iberian and roman pottery,
Romanization.


   Address: University Institute of Research in Archeology and Historical Heritage
(INAPH), University of Alicante, Spain. Email: feliciana.sala@ua.es. After two completed
projects, the study of the forts continues within the framework of the R&D project
HAR2016-76917-P, financed by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

       The papers published in this volume were presented at the session n° 162
       “Culture contacts in Western Mediterranean Sea during the Roman Age.
       Pottery as cultural marker between traffics and local productions" of the
       25th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) -
       Beyond Paradigms (Bern 4-7 September 2019), organized under the scientific
       direction of Prof. Marco Giuman, Dr. Ciro Parodo and Dr. Gianna De Luca
       (University of Cagliari. Department of Humanities, Languages and Cultural
       Heritage. Cittadella dei Musei, Piazza Arsenale 1, 09124 Cagliari, Italy).

1.     THE RESEARCH’S BACKGROUND

     It is widely considered that ceramic vessels are a mean of cultural

transmission or, at least, an excellent tool through which Archaeology can

recognize economic and ideological changes in ancient societies. However,

the goal of this presentation is to show you a case of an erroneous Reading.

The excavations conducted during the first half of the twentieth century in

some archaeological sites on the southeast coast of Iberia dating between

the 2nd and 1st centuries BC discovered abundant Roman pottery. The

archaeological historiography of that time interpreted them as enclaves in

which the Iberian population was engaged in exchange with Italic

merchants and considered this scenario as testimony to the beginning of

their Romanization. The Iberians learned to drink the Italic wine - which

came in amphoras Dressel 1 and Lamboglia 2 - in the pertinent tableware -

glasses of black gloss ware A and B and thin-walled beakers -. In this initial

process of romanization, the Roman currency and Iberian mints began to

play a decisive role, whose presence in these deposits indicated the first

contacts of the local population with a monetary economy. This idea was

consolidated in the first general study carried out on Contestanian Iberian

                                                                                                  2
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

culture by E. Llobregat1 and commercial activity was established as the

framework for the cultural transformation of the Iberian population.

    These sites are located in a territory in the southeast of the Iberian

Peninsula identified as Contestania from late Latin texts and their

inhabitants are cited as contestani (fig. 1). They are located on the north coast

of the Alicante province around Cabo de la Nao, an important geographical

reference for ancient and current navigation. From south to north these sites

are the Tossal de la Cala (Benidorm), Cap Negret (Altea), Penyal d'Ifac

(Calp), Punta de la Torre (Teulada-Moraira) and, passing the cape, Penya

de l'Àguila (Denia) and Passet de Segaria (Benimeli). From the map we

highlight the mountainous interior of the contestanian territory, difficult to

be travelled by land even in modern times. There, the Iberian settlements

were organized in each small valley as independent political and economic

units2. It can be easily observed how the intricate orography reaches the sea,

giving rise to a very abrupt coastline, where high cliffs alternate with small

coves that become excellent shelters for ships (fig. 2). In summary, the

mobility and transit of goods through this Iberian territory were feasible by

sea and not by a coastal land route impossible to travel, although it has

traditionally been traced on land route maps of republican Hispania3.

    These settlements have a somehow homogenous disposition. They are

small enclaves of a half a hectare located at the top of headlands. At its base

we find in all cases those coves suitable for the sheltering of small ships. In

them the characteristic Iberian ceramic with painted decoration appeared

(fig. 3), very characteristic of this time frame in the properly Iberian

1 LLOBREGAT 1972.
2 GRAU 2002; MORATALLA 2004.
3 SILLIÈRES 2003, fig. 1.

                                                                                  3
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

settlements. It is a very refined and good quality ceramic, made with an

oxidizing firing and characterized by geometric decoration painted in

shades of vinous red. However, on the occasion of a salvage excavation at

the Cap Negret site in 19874, we were able to see for the first time that Iberian

ceramics appeared in smaller numbers than imported Roman and Punic

ceramics (tab. 1), and also the high NMI of Dressel 1 (20), Lamboglia 2 (20),

and Greco-Italic amphorae (9) and forms of Campanian black-slip ware of

the types A and B (39) and thin-walled beakers (13) (tab. 2). Even admitting

that the population engaged in commercial exchange, these amounts of

imported ware began to seem excessive for the standards we were working

with in different sites5. Another fact also caught our attention: the variety of

Roman kitchen glasses. We will come back to this fact later in this paper.

2.     THE RESEARCH PROJECT

     In 2010 we began the study of these enclaves with the aim of knowing in

depth how the Iberian population lived and characterizing the process of

cultural change that was undergoing. First, we compiled all the known data

from the old excavations and restudied the findings6. Among these

findings, were identified armament and Roman militaria, medical

instruments like spathomele, stili, Gallarate and Piatra Neamt jug handles,

situla feet and tools for construction and maintenance 7 (fig. 4), common

4 SALA 1990.
5 SALA 2003.
6 The materials of these excavations are deposited in the Provincial Archaeological

Museum of Alicante-MARQ and in the Municipal Archaeological and Ethnographic
Museum of Jávea.
7 BAYO 2010, pp. 122-132; BAYO 2014, fig. 5-10.

                                                                                                  4
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

objects also found in well-known republican military camps of the Sertorian

Wars like Cáceres el Viejo in Lusitania8. The documented coins minted in

the 2nd century BC did not give the initial date of the habitat but were being

used with full exchange value in the early 1st century BC9. On those dates,

specifically between the years 76 and 75 BC, very close to our study area,

three battles were fought decisive in the outcome of the first Roman civil

war that confronted the Sertorian and Pompeian armies in the Iberian

Peninsula10. In addition, Dianium, the current city of Denia, is cited in

sources as the naval headquarters of Sertorius and its fleet. This navy

consisted of the ships of the Cilician pirates put at the service of its cause,

as Strabo (Str., III.4.6) and Sallust (Sall., Hist., I.124).

    Hence, these objects referred without a doubt to the presence of the

Roman army. For this reason, we began to consider the hypothesis that in

the coastal enclaves there could be small roman garrisons temporarily

installed in the Iberian fortification, and that all of this should have affected

the inhabitants of the Contestanian territory to a greater or lesser extent. The

presence of Roman military contingents in local settlements is not a new

issue in the archaeology of the Roman conquest, although it has gained

interest in recent years thanks to the recording of new examples. In the

Portuguese area, C. Fabião has described the issue as the “hidden” Roman

army within indigenous sites11, thanks to the record of sites such as Cabeça de

Vaiamonte, near the Cáceres el Viejo camp, or the Castro de Alvarelhos

(Santo Tirso), in the north of Portugal, related to the Augustan conquest of

8 ULBERT 1984.
9 DOMÉNECH 2014, pp. 95-96.
10 SALINAS 2014, pp. 27-29.

11 FABIÃO 2007, 128-131.

                                                                                  5
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

the northern towns of the Iberian Peninsula. Examples have also been

documented in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg in recent years. M.

Reddé highlights the sites of La Chaussée-Tirancourt (Somme), Bâle, a small

rauracian oppidum, or Titelberg (Lamadeleine), the great oppidum of the

Treveri, three confirmed cases of the cantonment of Roman troops in

protohistoric oppida between the end of the Gallic War and the Principality

of Augustus12.

      The research continued and with the geo-positioning and digital

mapping of the fortifications we found that they were simple but well-

planned buildings, which were not urban but strictly defensive in nature.

See, for example, the clever adaptation to the abrupt orography in Penya de

l’Àguila: three massive barrier walls between 2 and 3 m wide built in the

narrowing of the summit. The settlement occupies an area of half a hectare

and is located more than 1 km from wall III, from which the site was

accessed. The intermediate space between the wall III and the habitat is

empty, then the walls had the function of slowing down a hypothetical

enemy advance. These walls have breaks to gain flanking and to give

stability to the stretch. Also, a single access as sally ports of just 90 cm wide

(fig. 5). With these simple elements, it was intended to achieve a virtually

impregnable location during a very critical episode, something that was

already noticed by the first researchers13. Another example is the

fortification of the Passet de Segària. On a steep summit a visible section of

a wall of more than 45 m closes the long side of a rectangular building that

once again occupies half a hectare. It is built in a pseudo opus quadratum, a

12   REDDÉ 2008, 70.
13   HEMP 1929; SCHUBART 1963.

                                                                                                   6
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

technique without any tradition among the Iberian fortifications (fig. 6).

This enclosure was built in a mountainous pass that leads from the port of

Dianium to a nearby valley of Iberian settlement.

     The key to the definitive reinterpretation of the Iberian enclaves as

republican Roman forts was provided by the architecture of the Tossal de

la Cala. The site was partially excavated in 194314 and 195615. Our team

resumed field work in 2013 and it has been going until today and giving us

enough data to been able to correctly identify the architecture. It is not an

architecture of Iberian dwellings but a modular and repetitive architecture

that uses the pes monetalis as a unit of measurement. It presents two

constructive types (fig. 7): a simple plant of 2-3 rooms that develops

perpendicular to the wall, has its access from the main street, and stairs that

descend to the lower rooms with the wall as closure (Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and

13); and another more complex type has a greater number of rooms

connected by narrow spans (Nos. 10-12 and 14-15). These and other

constructive details, on which we cannot extend here, confirm that we were

facing a fort from the first Roman civil war16 and that it meets the

characteristics to be typified as a castellum17.

     The occupation of protohistoric sites by the Roman army in Central

European regions takes place in a second phase of the conquest process,

when in the respective territories, which are already occupied, it is

necessary to reaffirm control with a permanent presence of Roman

garrisons. This is not the situation of the Alicante coastal sites. They were

14 BELDA 1950-51.
15 TARRADELL 1985.
16 SALA et alii 2014a; 2014b.

17 JIMÉNEZ DE FURUNDARENA 1995.

                                                                                   7
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

built ex novo, have a single horizon of occupation and were inhabited for a

very short period during the 70s BC According to our calculations, they

formed a network of forts of half a hectare of extension and capacity to

house two centuries. Everything began to fall into place: the weapons and

militaria belonged to the soldiers; the abundant amphorae of Italian wine

and oil, of salted fish from Cádiz and from other sources18 were part of the

provisioning of the troops; the black-slip Campanian pottery and thin-

walled goblets were for the rations of wine; and they spent their leisure time

in games of chance19, as indicated by the tessera lusoria found in Passet de

Segària (fig. 8).

     Current research understands commensality as a means of identifying a

social group through its gastronomic customs and, in fact, both the

preparation of food and the way of consuming it are part of the cultural

baggage of each society. The kitchen-ware in the Tossal de la Cala, Cap

Negret and Penya de l'Àguila is undeniable italic and presents a varied

repertoire -aulae, patinae, caccabi, lopades-, which contrasts with the low

percentage of Iberian kitchen ceramics20 (tab. 3). In the aulae you could cook

puls or also boil vegetables, meats, etc.21. In the patina a kind of tortilla or

quiche was cooked without dough that included vegetables, fish or meat

with curdled eggs and brains22. The caccabus, a container between the aulae

18 As a curiosity we will point out the presence of a wine amphora from the island of Kos
in the Tossal de la Cala. It contained a long-maturing salty wine, to which Pliny attributed
medicinal properties (Nat. Hist., XIV, 77-79), and that was highly appreciated in military
circles, in TCHERNIA 1986: 19.
19 RODRÍGUEZ 2016.

20 BAYO 2019, pp. 510-530.

21 ROTH 1999, p. 45; BELTRÁN 2002, p. 205; OLCESE 2003, p. 38.

22 BELTRÁN 2002, p. 206; HUGUET 2013, p. 311.

                                                                                                  8
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

and the patina23, made it possible to cook the minutalia, a stew made of meat,

fish and vegetables minced into tiny pieces. In the lopades the fish was

stewed in its juice by covering it with a lid24. Sartago was used to fry or sauté

fish or meat, or to make cookies or cakes25. It was the definitive turning

point, since it was hardly credible that the Iberian population had changed

their eating habits in just a few years.

3.     THE HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK AND THE ROMANIZATION PROCESS

     From the sequence of military operations it follows that Sertorius's

intention was to secure control of the territories that provided him with a

safe base to march on Italy: the Ebro valley, the Pyrenean foothills and the

Levantine coast26. Everything changed when in 77 BC Pompey crossed the

Pyrenees at the command of his army to reinforce the legions of Metellus in

Later Hispania. With the important port of Carthago Nova in the hands of

the senators and Pompey descending the Mediterranean coast, Sertorius

needed an escape route by sea to Italy and leaned towards the port of

Dianium as a stronghold and naval base27 that same year (fig. 9). The

confrontation of the archaeological data with the historical facts allows to

attribute to Sertorius the construction of the forts around the Cabo de la Nao.

They respond to a studied plan of fortification of the southeast peninsular

coast, since they maintain visual connection among them. This was possible

23 BATS 1988, pp. 46, 69.
24 BATS 1988, pp. 68-69.
25 BATS 1988, p. 50.

26 SALINAS 2006, p. 156.

27 PÉREZ VILATELA 1992, p. 131.

                                                                                  9
The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior: the beginning of the romanization of the Iberian population.
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

because the Iberian Contestania he had a friendly retro-country thanks to the

alliance with the contestani, as Titus Livius affirms in the Periocha XCI. With

the ports of Ebusus and Carthago Nova out of his control, monitoring the

passage of senatorial ships in front of the cape was vital to his army. The

assault of the senatorial ships by Sertorius's allied Cilician fleet tried to

remedy the serious supply problem caused by the closure of the official

channels28. We defend that this is the explanation for the high number of

italic amphorae in Alicante’s forts29 (fig. 10). It is the archaeological

testimony of a question to which the written sources alluded 30: the

importance of the provisioning of the legions in the development of

conflicts.

     Going from the traditional vision of the sites of the north coast of Alicante

as Iberian towns to an interpretation of a network of castella of the Sertorian

wars supposes a substantial change for the knowledge of the Roman civil

wars in the southeast of Hispania. Its reinterpretation is already a milestone

in the investigation that cannot be concluded without dwelling on the

consequences among the Iberian population. It is possible to think that, by

virtue of the agreements of Sertorius with the contestani, they had to provide

products for the supply of the coastal garrisons. The Iberian amphorae and

vases found in the forts are the containers for transporting and storing the

products - food, esparto ropes, skins, etc. - that the people from the interior

valleys would contribute to the Sertorian army. It is also probable that they

28 We believe that Cicero alludes to this situation in the defense of Marcus Fonteio who,
being governor of Gaul, sent convoys to Metellus because the aid sent from Rome by sea
was intercepted by the Sertorians on the "Levantine coast" (Cic. Pro Fonteio, 13), in MUÑIZ
1978, p. 252.
29 SALA et alii 2013.

30 CADIOU 2008, pp. 435-450.

                                                                                                10
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

contributed auxiliary troops, the existence of which we believe to see in a

graffiti in the Iberian language on a plate Lamb 5 from campaniense B or the

representation of a military parade painted on a Iberian ceramic fragment

found in the Tossal de la Cala (fig. 11). Auxiliaries did not reside in this fort,

since we have just seen that all the kitchenware is Roman, but it is true that

in the surroundings of the forts, auxilia and/or the Iberian population that

came with their products could hear Latin, participated in their measure of

the discipline of the Roman army, met a different commensality and

observed the rituals dedicated to the Roman gods, among other daily

gestures.

     This environment could have marked the beginning of the Romanization

process of the contestani, but the Sertorian conflict ended only five years

after the construction of the forts, just after the death of Sertorius in 72 BC.

Then, the contestanian territory would remain practically empty of Roman

population until the Augustan period, when Archaeology confirms the

presence of the Roman civil and/or military population with the foundation

of the colony of Ilici and the municipality of Lucentum, following now a

different    strategy    of   consolidation      of   the    conquered      territories.

Consequently, can we speak of the romanization of the Contestanian

Iberian population? Not in the terms that traditional historiography

defended and certainly not at an early date31. The cultural change begins

from Augustus and it is in the Flavian era when we can speak of a

Romanised context around cities and their territoria32.

31 The theoretical debate on the scarce or non-existent Romanisation of the Contestania's
Iberian population that can be deduced from this new archaeological framework has been
dealt with in depth by one of the members of the research team in her PhD thesis: BAYO
2019, pp. 31-103.
32 OLCINA 2014.

                                                                                      11
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

     Cultural changes arose in conjunction with the process of conquest and

included the spread of Latin as the vehicular language of the provinces, the

development of Roman urban forms and resources, new identities and

ways of dressing, changes in diet, the extension of Roman religious

practices and the adaptation of Roman artistic expressions combined with

the traditions of the conquered regions33. We find in this definition of S.

Keay the final scenario of Romanization in Contestania, but as far as the

times are concerned we are in favour of the opinion of G. Woolf, who

suggests that Mediterranean Hispania was under effective Roman control

during generations before there was any cultural change34. Against this idea

F. Beltrán, a good connoisseur of Romanization in the Ebro valley, is

positioned35. According to this researcher, in this territory, with an italic

presence since the 2nd century BC, elements of Roman affiliation are

adopted, reworked and integrated into local structures that retain a notable

role and, thus, synthesis phenomena occur from which societies with a clear

provincial profile emerge36.

     Other regions of Hispania Ulterior, with enormous economic interests for

Rome, either for its rich agricultural production, or for the exploitation of

minerals, and with an italic presence since the end of the Second Punic War,

also experienced an early Romanization that can be pursued through

something as simple but revealing as it is the appearance already in the 1 st

century BC of a “romanized” amphoric production for the packaging of oil

and salted fish from the Baetica that reached as far as Rome37. This does not

33 KEAY 2001, p. 123.
34 WOOLF 1997, 346.
35 BELTRÁN 2017.

36 BELTRÁN 2003, p. 180.

37 GARCÍA VARGAS, 2009; BERNAL et alii, 2013.

                                                                                                12
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

seem to be what happened in Iberian Contestania in the 2nd and 1st centuries

BC.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

BATS 1988: M. Bats, Vaisselle et alimentation à Olbia de Provence (v. 350-v. 50
av. J.-C.). Modèles culturels et catégories céramiques, in RANarb, suppl. 18, Paris
1988, https://www.persee.fr/doc/ran_0153-9124_1988_sup_18_1.

BAYO 2010: S. Bayo Fuentes, El yacimiento ibérico de “El Tossal de la Cala”.
Nuevo estudio de los materiales depositados en el MARQ correspondientes a las
excavaciones de José Belda y Miquel Tarradell, Alicante 2010.

BAYO 2014: S. Bayo Fuentes, Identificación del uso del espacio y su momento
histórico a partir de los contextos materiales, in F. Sala, J. Moratlla (eds.), Las
guerras civiles romanas en Hispania. Una revisión histórica desde la Contestania,
Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante – MARQ 2014, pp. 99-114.

BAYO 2019: S. Bayo Fuentes, Contestania ibérica en los siglos II-I a.n.e.
Poblamiento y romanización. Tesis doctoral inédita, Programa de Doctorado
Filosofía y Letras, línea de investigación Arqueología, Universidad de
Alicante 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10045/99256.

BELDA 1950-51: J. Belda, Museo Provincial de Alicante. Nuevos ingresos, in
Memorias de los Museos Arqueológicos Provinciales XI-XII, 1950-1951, pp. 79-
105.

BELTRÁN 2003: F. Beltrán Lloris, La romanización temprana en el valle medio del
Ebro (siglos II-I a. E.): una perspectiva epigráfica, in AEspA 76, pp. 179-191.

BELTRÁN 2017: F. Beltrán Lloris, Acerca del concepto de romanización, in T.
Tortosa, S. Ramallo (eds.), El tiempo final de los santuarios ibéricos en los
procesos de impacto y consolidación del mundo romano, Anejos de AEspA,
Mérida 2017, pp. 17-26.

BELTRÁN 2002: M. Beltrán Lloris, Ab ovo ad mala: cocina y alimentación en el
Aragón Romano, Zaragoza 2002.

                                                                                 13
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

BERNAL et alii 2013: D. Bernal-Casasola, E. García Vargas, E. y A.M. Sáez
Romero, Ánforas itálicas en la Hispania meridional, in G. Olcese (ed.), Ricerche
archeologiche, archeometriche e informatiche per la ricostruzione dell’economia e
dei commerci nel bacino occidentale del Mediterraneo (metà IV sec. a.C. - I sec.
d.C.), Edizioni Quasar, Roma 2013, pp. 351-372.

CADIOU 2008: F. Cadiou, Hibera in terra miles: Les armées romaines et la
conquête de l'Hispanie sous la république (218-45 av. J.-C.), Madrid 2008.

DOMÉNECH 2014: C. Doménech Belda, El conflicto sertoriano en el sureste
peninsular a través de los registros numismáticos, in F. Sala, J. Moratlla (eds.),
Las guerras civiles romanas en Hispania. Una revisión histórica desde la
Contestania. Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante – MARQ 2014, pp.
91-98.

FABIÃO 2007: C. Fabião, El ejército romano en Portugal, in A. Morillo (ed.), El
ejército romano en Hispania. Guía arqueológica, Publicaciones de la
Universidad de León 2007, pp. 113-134.

GARCÍA VARGAS 2009: E. García Vargas, Las ánforas republicanas de Hispalis
(Sevilla) y la “cristalización” del repertorio anfórico provincial, in R. Cruz-
Auñón, E. Ferrer (eds.), Estudios de Prehistoria y Arqueología en Homenaje a
Pilar Acosta Martínez, Publicaciones de la Universidad de Sevilla 2009, pp.
437-463.

GRAU 2002: I. Grau Mira, La organización del territorio en el área central de la
Contestania Ibérica, Alicante 2002.

HEMP 1929: W.J. Hemp, Three Hill Forts in Eastern Spain, in Antiquity 3, 10,
1929, pp. 188–194. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00003252.

HUGUET 2013: E. Huguet, El material más usado por los antiguos: la cerámica
común y de cocina, in A. Ribera (coord.), Manual de cerámica romana: del mundo
helenístico al Imperio Romano, Madrid 2013, pp. 291-330.

JIMÉNEZ DE FURUNDARENA 1995: A. Jiménez de Furundarena, Castellum en la
Hispania romana: su significado militar, in HispAnt 19, 1995, pp. 129-150.

                                                                                              14
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

KEAY 2001: S. Keay, Romanization and the Hispaniae, in S. Keay, N. Terrenato
(eds.), Italy and the West. Comparative Issues in Romanization, Oxford 2001, pp.
117-144.

LLOBREGAT 1972: E. Llobregat, Contestania Ibérica, Alicante 1972.

MORATALLA 2004: J. Moratalla Jávega, Organización del territorio y modelos de
poblamiento en la Contestania Ibérica. Tesis doctoral inédita, Universidad de
Alicante 2004.
https://rua.ua.es/dspace/handle/10045/3751.

MUÑIZ 1978: J. Muñiz Coello, Sobre el abastecimiento al ejército romano durante
la conquista de Hispania, in Habis 9, 1978, pp. 243-254.

OLCESE 2003: G. Olcese, Le ceramiche comuni a Roma e in area romana:
Produzione, circolazione e tecnologia (Tarda età Repubblicana-Prima età
Imperiale), Mantova 2003.

OLCINA 2014: M. Olcina Doménech (coord.), Ciudades romanas valencianas,
Museo Arqueológico de Alicante – MARQ 2014.

PÉREZ VILATELA 1992: L. Pérez Vilatela, Denia entre Sertorio, Pompeyo y los
piratas, in Actes del III Congrés d’Estudis de la Marina Alta (1990), Denia 1992,
pp. 129-139.

REDDE 2008: M. Reddé, Les camps militaires républicains et agustéens:
paradigmes et réalités archéologiques, in Salduie 8, 2008, pp. 61-72.

RODRÍGUEZ 2016: F.G. Rodríguez Martín, Tesserae lusoriae en Hispania, in
Zephyrus LXXVII, 2016, pp. 207-220.
https://doi.org/10.14201/zephyrus201677207220 .

ROTH 1999: J.P. Roth, The logistics of de Roman Army at war (264 BC-A.D. 235),
Leiden-Boston-Köln 1999.

SCHUBART 1963: H. Schubart, Untersuchungen on den lberischen Befestigungen
des Montgó bei Denia (Prov. Alicante), in Madrider Mitteilungen 4, 1963, pp. 51-
85.

                                                                                 15
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

SALA 1990: F. Sala Sellés, El poblado ibérico de Cap Negret (Altea, Alicante), in
Memòries Arqueològiques a la Comunitat Valenciana, Valencia 1990, pp. 20-22.

SALA 2003: F. Sala Sellés, La transformación del instrumentum domesticum y el
comercio, in L. Abad (ed.), De Iberia in Hispaniam: la adaptación de las sociedades
ibéricas a los modelos romanos, Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante
2003, pp. 287-316.

SALA et alii 2013: F. Sala, S. Bayo, J. Moratalla, Dianium, Sertorio y los piratas
cilicios. Conquista y romanización de la Contestania ibérica, in Piratería y
seguridad marítima en el Mediterráneo antiguo, Publicaciones de la
Universidad de Sevilla 2013, pp. 187-209.

SALA et alii 2014a: F. Sala, L. Abad, S. Bayo, C. Domenech, Las huellas de las
guerras sertorianas en el Sureste de Hispania: elementos para la revisión histórica,
in F. Cadiou, M. Navarro (eds.), La guerre et ses traces. Conflits et sociétés en
Hispanie à l’époque de la conquête romaine (IIIe-Ier s. av. J.-C.), Institut
Ausonius, Universidad Burdeos III 2014, pp. 25-53.

SALA et alii 2014b: F. Sala, J. Moratalla, L. Abad, Los fortines de la costa
septentrional alicantina: una red de vigilancia de la navegación, in F. Sala, J.
Moratlla (eds.), Las guerras civiles romanas en Hispania. Una revisión histórica
desde la Contestania, Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante – MARQ
2014, pp. 79-90.

SALINAS 2006: M. Salinas de Frías, Geografía real y ficticia de la epopeya
sertoriana, in G. Cruz Andreotti, P. Le Roux, P. Moret (eds.), La invención de
una geografía de la Península Ibérica, I. La época republicana, Málaga-Madrid
2006, pp. 153-174.

SALINAS 2014: M. Salinas de Frías, Reflexiones sobre la guerra de Sertorio en la
Hispania Citerior y sus fuentes literarias, in F. Sala, J. Moratalla (eds.), Las
guerras civiles romanas en Hispania. Una revisión histórica desde la Contestania,
Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante – MARQ 2014, pp. 23-34.

SILLIÈRES 2003: P. Sillières, Voies romaines et contrôle de l’Hispanie à l’époque
républicaine. L’exemple de l’Espagne ultérieure, in A. Morillo, F. Cadiou, D.
Hourcade (eds.), Defensa y territorio en Hispania de los Escipiones a Augusto,

                                                                                              16
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

Publicaciones de la Universidad de León-Casa de Velázquez, Madrid 2003,
pp. 25-40.

TARRADELL 1985: M. Tarradell, El poblat ibèric del Tossal de la Cala de Benidorm.
Notes d'excavació, in Fonaments V, 1985, pp. 113-127.

TCHERNIA 1986: A. Tchernia, Le vin de l'Italie romaine. Essai d'histoire
économique d'après les amphores, BEFAR 261, Roma 1986.
 http://www.persee.fr/doc/befar_0257-4101_1986_mon_261_1.

ULBERT 1984: G. Ulbert, Cáceres el Viejo. Ein spätrepublikanisches Leionaslager
in Spanisch-Extremadura, Mainz 1984.

WOOLF 1998: G. Woolf, Becoming Roman. The Origin of Provincial Civilization
in Gaul, Cambridge 1998.

                                                                                 17
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

Fig. 1. Location of archaeological sites on the north coast of Alicante (MARQ cartographic
base).

Fig. 2. Image of the coast taken from Cabo de la Nao. In the background, the Punta de la
Torre archaeological site (photo by X. Bolufer).

                                                                                              18
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

Fig. 3. Selection of painted Iberian vases from Tossal de la Cala (photo by S. Bayo).

                                                                                        19
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

Fig. 4. Militaria and other findings from the small coastal forts in Alicante: (1–2) pila; (3)
gladius; (4–6) spearheads; (7) lead sling bullets; (8) spears; (9) cavalry harness fitting or belt
plaque; (10–11) bone and iron rings; (12) strike-a-light; (13) seal box (bulla); (14–15, 18)
bronze jug handles and situla fragment; (16) cheekpiece from Montefortino type helmet;
(17) fragments of strainer (trulla); (19–25) various tools. Nos. 1, 4, 6, 8–9, 11–12, 16–17, 19–
24 Penya de l’Àguila; No 7 Passet de Segària; Nos 2–3, 5, 10, 13–15, 18, 25 Tossal de la Cala
(drawings by S. Bayo).

                                                                                               20
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

Fig. 5. Aerial photograph of the Penya de l’Àguila fort. The three defensive lines in barrier
are appreciated (drawing by F. Sala).

Fig. 6. Pseudo quadratum section of the wall of the Passet de Segària fortification (photo by
F. Sala).

                                                                                          21
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

Fig. 7. General plan of the fortress of Tossal de la Cala with indication of the construction
types (drawing by Stereogràfica). The wall of the western sector was plundered at the
beginning of the 20th century for the construction of the town's port. The marked path with
a thick outline is the path opened in 1956 to urbanize the hill. It crossed the wall and
annexed buildings. It is possible that at that point there was one of the gates of the fort.

Fig. 8. Tessera lusoria found in the Passet de Segària fort (photo and drawing by J. Boronat).

                                                                                               22
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

Fig. 9. Historical cartography of the Sertorian conflict in the southeast of Hispania with the
location of the archaeological sites in the Alicante coast around the Cabo de la Nao (white
points). With a white square, the castrum aestivum of La Vila; with a black dot the sites of
the second half of the 1st century BC (Caesarian wars or Augustan times) and with a white
star the location of battles or military clashes mentioned in the sources (Lauro, Sucro) or
with archeological evidence (Valentia) (drawing by S. Bayo).

Fig. 10. Image of the Tossal de la Cala and its surroundings. At the top it can be seen part
of the wall and its attached buildings in the eastern sector. The cove and the island would
be ideal places to hide the Cilician myoparones waiting for the passage of senatorial
merchant ships (photo by S. Bayo).

                                                                                           23
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

Fig. 11. Iberian pottery fragment with representation of a military parade and a graffiti in
the Iberian language on the Camp. B, Lamb. 5 patera found in the Tossal de la Cala (photo
by S. Bayo).

                                                                                               24
OTIVM. Archeologia e Cultura del Mondo Antico, Vol. 10, 2021, Article 2

Tab. 1. Percentages by provenance of the pottery in Cap Negret (blue), Penya de l’Àguila
(red) and Tossal de la Cala (green) (drawing by S. Bayo).

Tab. 2. Comparative repertoire of the types of amphorae and other transport and
storage containers of Cap Negret, Penya de l’Àguila and Tossal de la Cala (drawing by S.
Bayo).

                                                                                     25
F. Sala-Sellés. The roman-republican castella on the south-eastern coast of Hispania Citerior.

Tab. 3. Comparative repertoire of kitchenware in the forts of Cap Negret (blue), Penya de
l’Àguila (red) and Tossal de la Cala (green). The higher figures in Tossal de la Cala are due
to the fact that it has undergone a greater number of excavations (drawing by S. Bayo).

                                                                                               26
You can also read